Walking on two legs costs humans only one-quarter the energy expended by chimpanzees who knuckle- walk on four legs, according to a new research conducted by U.S. anthropologists.
This saving in energy may have been what originally drove our common ancestor to walk upright, anthropologists from University of Arizona and Washington University, St. Louis reported Monday on the latest issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The research team measured how much oxygen five chimpanzees and four human volunteers burned as they walked on a treadmill: the chimps on four legs or two legs, the humans just on two.
For a given weight, the humans were far more efficient than chimps on two legs. The chimps, on average, used as much oxygen on two legs as on four. However, one chimp, with a longer stride, was more efficient walking upright.
According to biomechanical equations, energy consumption increases either with shorter steps or more active muscle mass. Long legs and a change in pelvic structure enable humans to reduce both factors, according to anthropologists.
The fact that variation exists even among a small population of chimps, the authors say, makes it reasonable to assume that human ancestors may have been selected for their efficiency in walking.
Source: Xinhua
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